The end of the ordeal for the A400M. First delivery scheduled for 2013
The seven partners of the Airbus A400M (1) military transport plane signed a new contract today in Toulouse which, taking up the terms of the agreement scheduled for last March (1), regulates three main elements: sharing price escalation, a new installment schedule for customer payments and a mechanism to allow different releases to be delivered in successive phases. It remains to negotiate the export aid scheme, which " should be finalized by the end of the year “says the industrialist.
Reduced orders of 10 aircraft in total
It took several months of negotiations, and a few outbursts, between the Member States and the industrialist Airbus Military to reach this agreement, which is being made, with limited "losses". Only two countries are lowering their aircraft orders: 3 less for the United Kingdom (22 against 25) and 7 less for Germany (53 against 60), which remains within the margins of a maximum of 1/ 10th decrease in orders which had been approved by the partners in Palma de Mallorca (2). Which makes a total of 170 aircraft ordered firm instead of 180 ... honor is safe. The two countries concerned retain the possibility of an option to purchase aircraft not purchased.
Delivery of the first aircraft for the French Air Force: March 2013, for the Luftwaffe: November 2014. Three aircraft are currently being tested and are accumulating flight hours week after week. For Domingo Ureña-Raso, CEO of Airbus Military: “ The A400M flight test program is progressing at a good pace and demonstrates the intrinsic quality of the product. We are very satisfied with the results achieved so far and are now preparing to start mass production by the end of the year. ».
Good news and big bucks
An agreement hailed as it should be in France and Spain, which have largely pushed for this agreement. « « This is very, very good news declared the French Minister of Defense, Hervé Morin live from Toulouse. “The A400M is an emblematic program that Europe could not abandon. To do that would mean for Europe wanting to be dependent on the United States in the 21st century,” he added. NOW " The contract has just been finalized. It remains to initiate the national ratification process in the seven countries ». This presupposes in particular a vote by the German Bundestag. “In this way, our soldiers can deploy faster, in less time and with better equipment, wherever you go to wherever the government sees fit to send them. added the Spanish Secretary of State, Constantino Méndez.
On the German side, we are less enthusiastic. Quoted by the German press, Minister zu Gutenberg remembers the harshness of the discussions and the harshness of the tone. And at the Ministry of Defence, in Berlin and Bonn, they prefer to argue big bucks: “ Thanks to these measures, the German share of the price increase of around €670 million compensated. Whereas originally, the additional cost should have been one billion euros ". Explanation: the Airbus A400M program was originally planned to cost 20 billion euros. The additional cost was estimated by the manufacturer at 5,2 billion, on which the client States agreed to pay 3,5 billion euros. All the difficulty was to share this sum. In the end, France should pay a bill of 8,4 billion euros for 50 planes. That is a cost of approximately 168 million euros per unit (development cost included).
(1) Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey.
(2) To this must be added the loss of a customer, South Africa, which preferred to cancel its order. Read Hard blow for Airbus, South Africa cancels its order for A400M
But Malaysia maintains its order.
